Journeys North

Doug Hall Direct<Yr Fbreword Journeys N<Yrth is one of the most adventurous commissions undertaken by the Queensland Art Gallery. The scale of the project and the breadth of the theme community life brings together 149 photographic works by six Australian photographers who travelled throughout Queensland for almost eighteen months documenting, interpreting and revealing the subtle as well as disparate aspects of community life in the State. Although the commission was conceived as a Bicentennial project,its importance will extend long after 1988. Not only will the images and the commission as a whole remain as an important artistic achievement, but also the themes explored will undoubtedly remain with us for years to come. The commission and the exhibition are very much a celebration and deserve to be remembered as a significant contribution to the visual arts in 1988. The photographs, however, are by no means parochially self-indulgent, for many of them do question attitudes which have long been an accepted part of community life in Australia. On the other hand, there are rich images which reaffirm that as Australians our lifestyle, land and environment are uniquely different. The Queensland Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Commissioning Programme of the Australian Bicentennial Authority, National Arts and Entertainment Committee. Special thanks is extended to the photographers Graham Burstow, Lin Martin, Robert Mercer, Glen O'Malley, Charles Page and Max Pam who had the vision and the resilience to bring this project to fruition. 3